


Some Things Never Change

by Val_Creative



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Canon, Earth Kingdom (Avatar), F/M, Gaang (Avatar), Humor, Katara (Avatar)-centric, LGBTQ In ATLA, LGBTQ Themes, Romantic Friendship, Season/Series 02, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26035216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative
Summary: Aang and Katara discover the possibility of a new flying lemur colony and an explanation for Momo’s odd behavior.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 32





	Some Things Never Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glove23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glove23/gifts).



> Requested by Glove23: **kataang; momo is [redacted]**. WE DON'T WANNA SPOIL ANYTHING. IT'S A SURPRISE. I always love writing all four/five of these characters so I hope everyone likes this. Any comments/thoughts appreciated!

*

All around them is damp and thick forest. For miles and miles.

_"Katara!"_

Aang's voice hollers out. She straightens up, no longer curiously examining the thin, reddish grass.

_"Katara, look at these fish!"_

Out of the clearing, she spots Aang toeing along a gently flowing river. He's leaned over, clutching his glider staff. It's not a very big river. Katara can already see some fruit bushes nearby, and edible plants, so the water must be free-flowing. Clean.

"Oh wow!" she says, gasping and staring into the depths.

"I've never seen this river with so much fish before! And in so many colors!" Aang declares. He watches all of the minnow-trout wriggle past each other and disappear with a sudden solemnness. "Things really have changed in a hundred years…"

Katara recognizes it. How out of time and place Aang feels after waking up from the iceberg. Her heart aches.

"Maybe some of the changes you see… they're for the better," she whispers, touching Aang's shoulder.

He peers to her, his expression brightening after a moment.

"Yeah! More fish together is good, right?"

"Right!" Katara returns Aang's wide smile, letting go of him and kneeling down to the river's edge. Her arms fold. The tips of Katara's boots wet with mud. "I don't think I've ever seen riverwater so blue and _pretty_ before…"

"It's like your eyes," Aang says dreamily, looking away. He startles. "Not that you're a river! You're… you're _Katara_!"

Katara chuckles, becoming a little flushed with embarrassment, and Aang whirls himself in the opposite direction, smacking his forehead loudly with his staff. He grumbles. Katara focuses back on the water, dipping her hands in. There's a slightly powerful undercurrent. She can feel it with her bending. But only before Katara pulls her hands out of the river, wincing.

" _Ah_!" she yelps. "Cold! _Very_ _cold!"_

"Katara, are you okay?" Aang leaps to her side, his orange shawl-piece fluttering. He doesn't hesitate to cradle her brown fingers into his. Katara cannot think of what to say when Aang gazes to her palms with the utmost devotion and concern. Like she's something so precious to him.

His eyes search hers.

A soft chittering noise echoes above them.

"Is that Momo?" Katara murmurs, looking up when Aang does. It's a streak of dark grey and white in the treetop.

"No…" he says breathlessly in excitement. "It's _another_ flying lemur!"

Aang takes off, grinning and spinning high over the forest-ground. "Aang!" Katara shouts, watching in mild exasperation as her friend vanishes. She races through the trees covered in a dark green bark. Several of the trees had been cracked apart by lightning. The light silver wood on the inside smells foul while it burns. To everyone's dismay, Sokka has been using it for fires.

(He complains there's nothing else. It's either a super stinky campfire _or freezing to their deaths_.)

Katara eventually finds Aang standing on his own, frowning.

"Where did it go?" she asks.

"I think I lost it…"

He heaves a sigh. Disappointment floods Aang, rippling within his energy, and Katara tuts.

"We'll find the lemur again, Aang. I'm sure."

"There you two are!" Sokka appears from the deep green brush, tucking away his whale's tooth short-sword. "Has anyone seen Momo? I've got an itch I can't reach! For _three_ days!" He turns, exposing his bare, brown back. Sokka's thumb jerks to it.

"Here," Toph announces, her voice deceptively sugar-sweet. "Let me help."

Relief sags him.

"Gee! Thanks, Toph—" A sharpish rock floats into view from Toph's earthbending. Katara and Aang grimace when Toph grind the rock hard against Sokka's flesh. Eight or nine times. Well, as many times until he screeches. " _Uugh!_ Gee… thanks, Toph," Sokka mutters.

Momo flies down, climbing up Aang's left arm.

"Hey, buddy," Aang greets him, smiling like nothing's gone amiss. "Sokka's been looking for you. What did you find?" Momo chitters at Aang briefly, nibbling on a lychee nut before hacking and tossing it aside. "What's wrong with your stomach?"

Katara steps in. "Let me see Momo."

"Uh…" Toph scrunches her nose. "You said Momo's a boy…?"

"What about it, Toph?"

"Then why does he have babies in his stomach…?"

Sokka's mouth hangs open. "Momo's having _BABIES_!?" he howls. _"WHAT!? WHHAAAAT?!"_

"He _IS_?!" Aang holds up Momo and presses an ear to his furry stomach, ignoring Momo's fierce struggling.

Toph ttches, picking her ear-canal lazily.

"Yeah, Twinkle Toes. I can sense their heartbeats from here."

Momo escapes, curling around Katara's neck when she reaches up to scratch behind his ear.

_"Then how is Momo…?"_

"Momo's a boy if he is," Aang corrects Toph who shrugs. "Right, Momo?"

A deep, warbling purr sounds.

"When I was raised by the monks, they didn't care if you were a girl or a boy. Some of the Air Nomads weren't even girls or boys. They were just themselves." Aang beams. "I mean—I didn't even know _I_ was a boy until I thought I was!"

Sokka nods, rubbing his chin.

"In our tribe, one of the elders that Dad knew before he was Chief said they weren't a man. Or a woman. I didn't understand it, but Dad said it was true." Katara listens with rapt interest. Sokka never talked about this growing up. "Dad said the Southern Water Tribe had descendants from a shaman who belonged to another gender. A person who wasn't a man or a woman and never was."

"I'm _me_ ," Toph blurts out, smirking. "Nobody's like _me_."

"See!" Aang gestures to a now critical-looking Sokka. "Anyone can have babies!"

"Not _anyone_ , Aang."

"What's the big deal?" A scoffing noise blows between Aang's lips. "If I could—I would have Katara's babies—!"

Katara's forefinger drops from under Momo's chin.

"—what?" she says confused.

Aang blinks. _"—what?"_

Sokka rolls his eyes, silently rubbing the bridge of his nose. Toph yawns. Purposely.

_"LET'S GO FIND MORE LEMURS, GUYS!"_

*

They locate an abandoned village in the forest eventually.

Without Appa, getting to Ba Sing Se will take longer. Walking is the only option.

"There's so many!" Katara exclaims, staring up delighted at the colony of flying lemurs. She giggles when two of them perch on her shoulders, nuzzling the sides of her face. They're not the same color as Momo but definitely the same as Momo's babies.

Toph passes her, one of the dark grey-and-white lemurs nesting on top of her head.

"Yippiee…" she deadpans.

 _"BAAAAABIES!_ " Sokka bellows with full-on enthusiasm, hugging his armful as they purr and chitter. _"THEY'RE SO CUUUUUTE!"_

Katara finds herself face-to-face with one of Momo's fluffy babies. She puckers her lips exaggeratedly. It scampers away in disinterest, revealing Aang's face. Not far from hers. He had the same idea of puckering his lips with his baby lemur, and then awkwardly backs up.

"I…"

"Oh, come here!" Katara laughs, cupping the side of Aang's blushing head and kissing his temple.

It will be okay.

As long as they have each other.

*


End file.
